1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to optical storage and recording systems and, more particularly, to a shared memory architecture and method in an optical storage and recording system such as a digital video disk rewritable (DVD RW) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional optical storage and recording system 10. System 10 comprises a DVD RW drive 11, a motion picture expert group (“MPEG”) encoder subsystem 15, and a television (“TV”) decoder subsystem 111. DVD RW drive 11 comprises an optical storage 101, a memory controller such as read only memory (ROM)/flash controller (“Ctlr”) 12, a DVD RW controller 13 (coupled to optical storage 101), and another memory controller such as a dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) controller 14. Controller 12 is coupled to DVD RW controller 13, and an external (“Ext”) memory such as ROM or flash memory 102. Controller 14 is coupled to DVD RW controller 13, as well as an external memory such as a static dynamic random access memory (“SDRAM”) 103. A bus 104 connects DVD RW controller 13 to an MPEG encoder 17 in MPEG encoder subsystem 15.
MPEG encoder subsystem 15 comprises a memory controller such as a ROM/flash controller 16, MPEG encoder 17, and another memory controller such as a DRAM controller 18. Controller 16 is coupled to MPEG encoder 17, and an external memory such as a ROM/flash memory 105. Controller 18 is coupled to MPEG encoder 17, as well as an external memory such as an SDRAM or double rate SDRAM 106. MPEG encoder 17 receives audio data through an audio input 107, and video data through a video input 108 from TV decoder subsystem 111.
TV decoder subsystem 111 comprises a TV decoder 112 and a memory controller such as a DRAM controller 113. Controller 113 is coupled to TV decoder 112, as well as an external memory such as an SDRAM 110. A TV tuner 120 is coupled to TV decoder 112 in TV decoder subsystem 111, as well as an audio analog-to-digital converter 109. As shown in FIG. 1, MPEG encoder 17 and DVD RW controller 13 individually and separately access and manage external memories through their respective memory controllers by providing instructions and data in parallel. Redundancies in memory resources and controller management are disadvantageous in maximizing system efficiency and operability.
There is thus a general need in the art for a system and method overcoming at least the aforementioned shortcomings in the art. A particular need exists in the art for an improved memory architecture and method in an optical storage and recording system overcoming disadvantages with respect to memory resource and controller management redundancies.